I was looking up old Portsmouth managers this morning, just for something to do you know, and for some reason I came to revisit the reign of Avram Grant, and he really was given a raw deal when he took over as manager. Promised transfer funds that didn't exist, promised wages that never arrived, players sold off behind his back and without his concent, yet he just got on with the job as best he could, and we went down fighting and had a few moments to lift our spirits in the FA Cup with a win over Southampton in the local derby, a victory against Redknapp led Tottenham and a good showing the in Final where we held the favorites Chelsea to for an hour before conceding the only goal. When the season ended it was almost inevitable that he would leave. So I thought I'd ask today, what do you think would have happened if Uncle Avram had stayed Pompey boss? Would he have kept us in the Championship? Would he have sold all those young players like Cotterill did? Would he have spent money like Cotterill when Antonov took over? And how long do you think he would have lasted?
It's a nice "what if..." scenario, but I think, rose tinted specs aside, that it wouldn't have made any difference. Players were being sold/given away/shot at dawn etc through financial necessity, not because Cotteril wanted to get rid. After the 10 point deduction (2012) it would have taken another 8 points to stay up in the Championship. Could Uncle Avram have got more out of the same squad to get those points and keep us up? I don't know. But what it would have meant is that we would have been in the Championship last season with basically [due to the financial situation - being in administration] the same squad as we had anyway; a squad not good enough to keep us in League One! We would have been the whipping boys in a totally miserable season. How do you think our side, that was losing against Bury, Shrewsbury and Crewe would have fared against Cardiff, Leicester and Nottingham Forest? OK, we'd be in League One now rather than League Two, but I honestly wonder if things like the PST bid and the forced sale of Fratton Park would have been quite so forthcoming in their success had we been in the third, rather than the fourth tier. Had that been the situation we could have been in League One now, but with an even more depleted squad and a massive points deduction - assuming we were allowed to continue at all! So my conclusion is. Thanks for the memories Uncle Avram Thanks for getting us to the FA Cup Final But if I could go back in time I'd leave things as they are.
But would Grant have signed Lawrence and Kitson when we were in the middle of administration? Would we keep hold of David James? Would he have gotten rid of Matt Ritchie and Marlon Pack and Lenny Sowah and all those other youngsters? Would he have had that spending spree that Cotterill had in the summer? And if we went down in the second season in the championship as we did in reality would he choose to let Ashdown go depite Ashdown offering to take a wage cut to stay? Would he rely on young during the financial troubles or on loans and free transfers like Appleton and Whittingham did?
There are quite a few interesting questions here. He might have done - what people didn't quite grasp is that when we sold Marc Wilson to Stoke they paid enough (£1.5m) to cover both Lawrence and Kitson's wages for just on 3 years. It was in fact a pretty shrewd deal. Having read Jamo's unqualified support of Yoda when he was struggling at West Ham, I think the answer to that would have been yes. Possibly not, but that would have depended more on if he was going to get the go-ahead for a spending spree. Yeah - of course he would - the real question is who would he have brought in. Probably not. I wonder how he would have coped with the financial troubles on a longer term basis. Give them their due, both Appleton and Whittingham have done well with their loans and freebies. But, all in all, I think Devo has got it spot-on - we are in a better place now than we have ever been.
